Evaluation of factor H linear and conformational epitopes on the Neisseria meningitidis

One of meningococci bacteria is Neisseria meningitidis which is a Gram-negative microorganism and an exclusive human pathogen. This bacterium usually exists in an asymptomatic nasopharyngeal carriage state. Following its penetration into the mucosal tissue, invasion of the bloodstream, and colonization of the meninges, this pathogen can cause devastating invasive disease, such as septicemia or meningitis. As the disease often progresses very rapidly, it is difficult to diagnose and treat(1,2). The associated mortality is about 10%, and permanent sequelae such as hearing impairment, mental retardation, or limb loss are common in survivors. Following the discovery and showing importance of the meningococcal factor H binding protein (fHBP) during the recent years two recombinant MnB vaccines have been developed which either are directed to fHBP as the single target of the vaccine or contain fHBP as one of the components. Binding of human factorH(hfH) by meningococci down regulates the host alternative complement pathway and helps the organism to evade host innate immunity. Nowadays, bioinformatics is reliably working in biology researches. It could be harnessed in vaccine plan as well as epitope mapping drives. In the present study we exploit bioinformatic tools to introduce the best regions of factor H binding protein (fHBP) as antigenic determinants in order to design (a) novel construct (s) as vaccine or diagnostics.

Keywords:

Neisseria meningitides , factorH(hfH) , linear and conformational epitopes